By Finbarr O’Reilly. This article originally appeared in The New York Times on Aug. 30, 2018

For more than four decades, Art Greenspon kept his recollections of photographing the Vietnam War for Overseas Weekly tucked away deep in his memory, as inaccessible as the images themselves. Then, in 2014, a treasure trove of 35 mm negatives emerged from the gloom of a Scandinavian cellar, vividly reminding Mr. Greenspon of his time working for the scrappy little alternative tabloid.

“I was thrilled and horrified at the same time,” Mr. Greenspon wrote in a new book showcasing the long-forgotten images. “I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to see my photographs once again. But it also stirred up troubling memories and emotions that I had worked hard for decades to keep in safe storage.”

He is among the photographers whose rediscovered work is part of “We Shot the War: Overseas Weekly in Vietnam,” a book and exhibition of the same title running through Dec. 8 at the Herbert Hoover Memorial Exhibit Pavilion at Stanford University.

Black soldiers at Camp McDermott stand by a barbed-wire fence intended to segregate their living quarters from those of white soldiers. Oct. 10, 1970. Credit Brent Procter/Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives. NOTE: This photo statement generated the most controversy within the comment section of the original post

Ann Fabos of U.S.A.I.D. leading a protest against the Army ban on women’s pants, after an incident in which she was denied entrance into the Rex Hotel in Saigon for an Overseas Weekly story. Jan. 10, 1970. Credit Cathy Domke/Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives

The featured photographs are not the iconic images we often associate with the Vietnam War. Although the photographers covered combat, few scenes in the book depict the blood-soaked drama of the battlefield. Instead, they offer relaxed portraits of American G.I.s and Vietnamese civilians taken between 1966 and 1972. They mostly show the long hours of boredom and tedium that dominate life at war.

Both the book and exhibition also explore the outsize role of a publication led by two tenacious women, Marion von Rospach and Ann Bryan, both Stanford alumnae. Ms. von Rospach founded Overseas Weekly with her husband in Germany in 1950 for American military personnel stationed in Europe. Ms. Bryan opened the paper’s Pacific office and published the first edition in 1966.

Early on, Ms. Bryan, the only female bureau chief in Saigon, ran a one-woman show from her second-floor apartment, working as a reporter, photographer, editor and operations manager. Her mission was to write for soldiers in their own language. She fought for the right of women to report from combat zones despite — or perhaps because of — remarks from officers such as, “What the hell is a woman doing here?”

Ms. Bryan was “a no-nonsense woman, a female boss in a man-centric war zone,” according to Mr. Greenspon, who arrived in Saigon on a one-way ticket, a two-week tourist visa and $50 in his pocket. Ms. Bryan gave him his start. Mr. Greenspon, who also sold pictures to newswires, went on to make one of the war’s most memorable images, “Help from Above,” showing a soldier with arms outstretched to an incoming medevac helicopter. The image was the inspiration for the poster for the 1986 film “Platoon” starring Charlie Sheen and Willem Dafoe.

With a crew of mostly freelance contributors, including the book’s featured reporters — Cynthia Copple, Don Hirst, and Brent Procter — Overseas Weekly focused on the G.I.s rather than military brass or the official policy reports found in Stars & Stripes, the military newspaper based in Washington, D.C., that operates under the Department of Defense. Long before blogs and social media offered a platform for alternative voices, the tabloid covered issues faced by the grunts, including salacious reports about courts-martial in sex cases. This, along with the use of pinups of semi-clad women on the front pages, earned it the nickname Oversexed Weekly. It was popular among troops, but not the brass. The Army briefly banned the sale of the paper in Europe in 1953 for “irreverent treatment” of the military, but Congress members and the American Civil Liberties Union helped overturn the ban.

A refugee faces questioning by a U.S. Marine. March 1968. Credit Art Greenspon/Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives

In this image marked by an editor for publication, Specialist Fifth Class Jimmy L. Arnold holds a toddler in his arms and obtains a present from Santa for him. South Vietnam. Dec. 25, 1966. Credit Ann Bryan/Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives

An unidentified South Vietnamese police officer with a band of bullets around his waist glances backward while keeping guard. Nha Trang, Vietnam. 1968. Credit Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives

The paper earned its muckraking reputation — and the ire of the Pentagon — by printing articles on racism, drug abuse, the military justice system, and the sex-reassignment surgery of a transgender World War II veteran. It was put up for a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the underground activities of the American Nazi Party within the U.S. military.

“Many Army officers maintained that though the facts were usually right … the stories fostered disrespect for the military establishment,” wrote The New York Times in a 1969 article.

Throughout the conflict, the paper’s staff was devoted to reflecting the war back to the young Americans fighting it. Mr. Hirst documented Johnny Cash, June Carter, and Carl Perkins’s 1971 performance for U.S. troops at Long Bình — an experience that was later recounted in Cash’s song “Singin’ in Vietnam Talkin’ Blues.”

“Unlike photographers working for major media outlets the Overseas Weekly photographers found that their subject was also their audience,” wrote Eric Wakin, deputy director at the Hoover Institution, in the book’s foreword. “They took photographs that were never intended for a civilian viewership.”

With the publication of the forgotten archives, a new generation of civilians and service members now has access to a valuable record of a war that killed one million Vietnamese and over 58,000 Americans, a toll that still resonates nearly half a century later.

“Combat scars everyone, soldiers and journalists alike. And the psychological wounds don’t heal, even after fifty years,” Mr. Greenspon wrote in his essay. “Now, Hoover has stirred up a whole new set of traumatic recollections and resentments. I am both excited at seeing some of my lost photos and, at the same time, troubled by the memories they spark.”

Vo Thi Phuong resting in a hospital, with one of her children standing by the bed. Pleiku, Vietnam. April 20, 1970. Credit Don Hirst/Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives

People accused of being National Liberation Front guerrilla soldiers blindfolded and taken prisoner by military police. South Vietnam. Dec. 11, 1966. Credit Overseas Weekly Collection/Hoover Institution Library and Archives

Finbarr O’Reilly is a photographer and the co-author with retired Sgt. Thomas James Brennan of “Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War,” published in paperback this month by Penguin. Follow him on Instagram.

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36 thoughts on “Forgotten Images of the Vietnam War Made for the Americans Who Fought In It”

I was a Dustoff pilot in Vietnam 7/67 – 7/68 with the first full medical air ambulance company in Vietnam. We had a compliment of 24 UH-1H helicopters and operated out of Long Binh in III Corps.

During my year in Vietnam, we were privy to the goings-on back in the U.S. and it wasn’t pretty. Interestingly enough, we often had members of the press wanting to accompany us on missions to get some photos and ink. Rather than deny the press, our commanding officer left it up to the Aircraft Commander to allow or disallow a press corps member to take up an often valuable seat meaning one less casualty could be evacuated if the occasion presented itself.

Personally, I quickly developed a distrust for “the press” as I realized the reported news concerning Vietnam was very often skewed. Not to say all members of the press were dishonest but clearly enough of them to warrant in my mind that I wouldn’t give up a seat in my aircraft.

Reading the piece here that discussed concertina wire segregating blacks from whites, is from my experience a total fabrication and an example of mistrust I had and have from the press. Incidentally, the majority of Aircraft Commanders in our company felt the same way.

While I never saw any such segregation I could understand how it might have occurred. When I was there 70-71 there was constant racial strife on our airbase, as well as the larger army bases I went through. The blacks typically segregated themselves, having little to do with the whites. At night, you had to travel in groups on the bases for fear of getting jumped. I saw this at Phu Cat, Cam Ron, Qui Nhon and Da Nang. Unpleasant to hear for many, but unfortunately true. (both whites and blacks contributed to the causes)

Joe………was barbed wire separation of blacks and whites possible? Anything’s possible but I think you’re going to find that the absolute majority of those who served in Vietnam in any capacity or any locale will find it extremely highly unlikely.

Racial strife was going on in the 60’s and 70’s as it was before and is today and will be tomorrow. If anything, as Tim Hodges said……..we were all green in the jungle.

I have to believe that this picture was a contrived effort for the photographer and his cronies to stir the mud and gain some recognition and add fuel to the fire for Walter Cronkite and his followers.

Funny they post a pic of Blacks behind barbed wire but no one
Post any pictures of Blacks and Whites leaving country together
On Braniff or Flying Tiger or ANY
Air lines taking them Home have they ? Yes there were problems
But when it came down to it
They all had each other’s BACK
Till the End I was There DAU TIENG FSB CAMP RAINIER
70/71 25th INF Division 65th Engineer Battalion

Agree with the doubt expressed here about segregating blacks from whites with concertina wire. I wrote two lengthy magazine pieces about Black GI’s, first in 1965 and then six later. Lots of problems, but no wire between them. (These pieces appear in different form in my book, “Tell it to the Dead,” first published in 1975 and then, in expanded edition, in 1996.)

I was in Vietnam in 70-71. I joined the Army in 68 and ended up staying for 23 years. Never in my entire career did I ever see any concertina wire being used to seperate one group of military personnel from another. In Vietnam we were all green in the jungle. It was the only way to survive. I’m calling bs too.

Great article, however the picture of the black soldiers standing behind a roll of barbed wire, intended to separate their living quarters from the white soldiers at Camp McDermott was unbelieveable. Was this allowed on US Army bases in S. Vietnam?
I served with G2/4, 3rd Marine Division as a 0311 Grunt in I Corps and never saw any type of segregation toward black Marines. These black Marines served with honor and were dedicated to the mission. I couldn’t imagine treating a fellow Marine like that.

Barbed wire segregation! Total BS! As a Marine VN vet I really resent that photo and caption. I served with 1st Marine Division 1968-69 and was in country April 4, 1968 when MLK was killed. Tough day for race relations but our senior NCO’s took charge. There was never any physical segregation that I experienced. Typical media bias against those serving in the war. We were all Marines in Vietnam wearing green. Mostly dirty green Camo. I came home with a deeper respect for all races.

The barbed wire separation is total bs. I was with the First Team in Vietnam and spent a couple weeks at Tan San Nute (sorry) air base in Saigon. Probably the safest place in the whole country. While there I watched a film crew filming a marine combat patrol. What utter bs. A soldier, watching a squad of marines, on a “combat” mission, in a very secure Air Force base. Probably made a nice segment on the evening “news”.

I flew Dustoff out of there in 70 from the small aide station on the base and never saw any of this. It looks like it may have been a shot of personnel locked up at the MP holding area. May be a misrepresentation of the actual event. In my two years in country I saw a bit of that.

I served 1966-1968 with Army. 67-68 Viet Nam with 173rd ABN. Never saw segregation while at Ft. Jackson, Ft, Leonard Wood, Viet Nam or at Ft. Bragg. As usual fake news. And now i have doubts about the entire article and the so called lost/found pics tucked away for so many years.

As I was in the Army 66 to 68 but got sent to Germany, this was outside of what I saw, so I wanted to do a little study on Brent Proctor, who is credited with the “barbed wire separation” photo. Nothing came out on that particular Brent Proctor. A deeper search with more info on him might produce more.
So I also went online to study Camp McDermott. Well, if someone wanted to get this incident out there, it has not shown up. There are over a dozen sites concerning Camp McDermott and they show nothing like that. They do show blacks and whites together. But, I am sure there are others who can access things I cannot. But I took a looksee to figure this out and came up with nothing notable.
SNAFU, I could joke.
At Swabisch Hall or Kitzingen there maybe were groups that stuck together, but nowhere at that “barbed wire” level.
What do I think myself? Maybe some photo editor on the paper had a bug up his ass that day.
Anyone else got anything?

As a multi tour vet from Nam I never saw any segregation of troops as exhibited in this photo. Having served with multiple units this is the most absurd photo and does not represent any reality of what actually occurred. My master sergeant had three degrees and spoke four languages and he was a black American through and through. I can honest say that myself, my MSG or anyone I was ever associated with would never have condoned or allowed this type of situation. I honestly believe it is a doctored and misdirected photo.

I was a grunt with the 199 th Infantry Brigade 1968-1969, so I never saw or heard of this paper. I believe the picture saying black
GIs separated by concertina wire from others is total BS. It would never happen in the bush and I don’t think the REMFs would either.

Doc Tolliver c 3/7th 199th inf 68-until the colors went home
Dennis my first assigned plt in nam was almost all black with a few exceptions including myself. I myself never saw any segregation that wasn’t self induced. That being said I did see some racial tension in the rear at times but nothing compaired to the bs that the news reported back home to our loved ones on the 6 o clock news. Body counts and riots. By the time i got home my parents couldn’t even talk to me about it they were so upset.

Judging from the multitude of responses from those who’ve been in Vietnam, it sound pretty conclusive that the concertina wire photo is just plain BS.

Regarding the response from “joe” to my “bashing” of Walter Cronkite. Clearly he was admired by much of the American public, but also very clearly he was no friend of those of us who served in Vietnam. In essence, Cronkite went above and beyond his function as a news reporter by uttering his own opinion of the war which promoted public disdain for the war and those involved but also provided aid and comfort to our enemy just as Jane Fonda did. It gave the North Vietnamese and VC resolve and weakened the knees of our inept politicians.

@David – LBJ and the Army had been systematically lying about ‘progress’ in the war – the inflated bodycount being one of the worst measures – yet, widely accepted and (ab)used as the main indicator of that progress. So, they continuously stated that ‘they were seeing light at the end of the tunnel’.
Then TET happened in Jan. ’68 (and I believe Cronkite visited SVN shortly after).

Back on air he stated that (if this were light at the end of the tunnel), ‘he didn’t see how the US could win this war’ or ‘how the US could ever get out of this quackmire’ (in light of all the destruction, the casualties) (I’m paraphrasing).

LBJ then cried to his staff that ‘if he had lost Cronkite, he had lost middle-America’ – which was his main reason to start the war in the first place – he wanted to look tough on communism, getting center-right votes…. So instead of securing his re-election, he lost a big part of votes (that he counted on) – consequently he didn’t run for a second term.

In a sense, LBJ set himself up for this failure: he deceived and lied too many times – TET exposed him – and Cronkite indirectly confirmed it.

The big tragedy being….. TET was a complete defeat for the VC – they lost ‘all’ of their people (60k to 80k) and were wiped out as a force – so even after they ‘ambushed’ the cities, the US Army annihilated them (though it took several months in total).

What you can hold against Cronkite (and the press in general) is that they never emphasized THAT fact: this time there were real bodies to be counted, the Army ‘forgot’ to point out their true victory – instead the public got served an embarrassing defeat.

No wonder ‘some’ people (still) feel the press are the enemy of the people…

hello i am a longtime subscriber & i am trying to ask a question that GOOGLE Can’t answer? : were there any united states GENERALS ever caught alive by the communists (AKA vietcong / N.V.A) thank you for your website

*There was only one general officer identified as a POW during the Vietnam War:*

Brigadier General Edward Burke Burdett (U.S. Air Force)

*Commanding General, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, Korat Royal Thai Air Base. MIA November 18, 1967, when shot down while flying a F-105D on a strike mission over Phuc Yen Airfield, North Vietnam. Later declared a prisoner of war, he died in captivity on November 18, 1967.*

*Commanding General, 3rd Air Division, Strategic Air Command. Died on July 7, 1967 when two B52 aircraft collided in mid-air over the South China Sea during a combat mission. The aircraft were approximately 20 miles offshore at the point of Vinh Binh Province when the accident occurred.*

Major General Bruno Arthur Hochmuth (U.S. Marine Corps)

*Commanding General, 3rd Marine Division. Killed November 14, 1967, when the helicopter, in which he was riding, exploded in mid-air and crashed.*

Major General Robert Franklin Worley (U.S. Air Force)

*Vice Commander, Seventh Air Force, Pacific Air Forces. Killed July 23, 1968, when the RF-4C he was piloting was hit by ground fire and crashed approximately 65 miles northwest of Da Nang Air Base.*

Major General Keith Lincoln Ware (U.S. Army)

*Commanding General, 1st Infantry Division. Killed September 13, 1968, over Loc Ninh near the Cambodian border, when his helicopter was shot down by heavy anti-aircraft fire. Awarded Medal of Honor in 1944.*

Brigadier General Charles Jack Girard (U.S. Army)

*Commanding General, Capital Military Assistance Command, Saigon, Vietnam. Died January 17, 1970 of illness or disease.*

Brigadier General William Ross Bond (U.S. Army)

*Commanding General, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Killed in Action April 1, 1970, by small arms fire along the southeastern edge of war zone D, about 70 miles northeast of Saigon.*

Brigadier General Carroll Edward Adams, Jr. (U.S. Army)

*Commander, 13th Engineer Bde. Killed on May 12, 1970, when his helicopter was shot down in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. *

Major General John Albert B. Dillard, Jr. (U.S. Army)

*Chief of Army Engineers in Vietnam. Killed May 12, 1970, when his helicopter was shot down in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.*

Major General George William Casey (U.S. Army)

*Commanding General, 1st Cavalry Division. Killed July 7, 1970, in a helicopter crash in South Vietnam when his UH-1H hit a mountain due to poor weather near Bao Luc.*

Rear Admiral Rembrandt C. Robinson (U.S. Navy)

*Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 11 and Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Group Vietnam, Seventh Fleet (CTF 75). Killed May 8, 1972, in a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Tonkin during a late night landing approach to his flagship, the guided missile light cruiser USS Providence (CLG-6) immediately preceding the cruiser-destroyer attack on the Don Son Peninsula and Haiphong, North Vietnam.*

Brigadier General Richard J. Tallman (U.S. Army)

*Deputy Commanding General, 3rd Regional Assistance Cmd, MACV. Mortally Wounded on July 9, 1972, at An Loc when his helicopter was struck by enemy artillery fire.*

The picture and the comment with it is total BS. I was in the United States Army 1967-1970 and In Vietnam 1968-1969. There was no segregation of Black and White Soldiers. That was a total lie. Provide the proof, the picture could have been taken anywhere and proves nothing.